The maker of EpiPen has issued a recall after defects in some of its anti-allergy injectors, as the company also faces a class-action lawsuit about a massive price increase in recent years..

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Drug giant Mylan announced that its partner Meridian Medical Technologies has expanded a voluntary recall to the U.S. after reports of some devices failing to activate.

EpiPens inject patients with epinephrine to combat severe allergic reactions, meaning that difficulty using them in life-threatening emergencies could have disastrous consequences.

The Food and Drug Administration said that 13 lots affected in the recall were distributed from December 2015 to July 2016.

Mylan blamed the defect on a supplier component and said that the problem is "extremely rare."

Its safety move comes after the company came under intense scrutiny last year for what a class-action lawsuit filed Monday calls "in an illegal organized scheme to systematically increase EpiPen prices by 574 percent."

The suit filed in Seattle by attorneys at Hagens Bergman accuses Mylan of fraud at violating an anti-racketeering law for increasing the price of the EpiPen 17 times since 2007, from $90.28 to $608.62.

It says that the increase was due to a "behind-the-scenes quid pro quo arrangement between Mylan and other players" such as pharmacy benefit managers who benefit when the list price for drugs is high.

The three largest managers, CVS Caremark, Express Scripts and OptumRx are also mentioned in the suit as being aware of the alleged scheme.

Mylan CEO Heather Bresch testified before Congress that the "system is broken," and that few people end up paying the full list price.

However, the Seattle suit says that the pharma company willingly chose to participate in the scheme that ultimately raised out-of-pocket prices for consumers for both pre-deductible purchases and coinsurance costs.

Plaintiffs include three women with high-deductible insurance in Washington state, Colorado and Maryland, who said they had to pay hundreds of dollars for packs of EpiPens because of Mylan's practices.

It also seeks class action status for anyone who paid for the product based on Mylan's allegedly inflated price.

Mylan did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the lawsuit.

The EpiPen gained widespread attention last year because of its price, with Bresch being called to testify before the House Oversight Committee in September and lawmakers proposing changes to prevent similar increases.

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Mylan has since started selling a generic version is a list price of about $300 for two-pack instead of $600.

CVS has also said that it is offering an anti-allergy injector duo for $110.